Rayman: The Island of Loss Chapter 1
by Squirrel Guy
Summary: In this first chapter, Rayman competes in The Games with Globox and the kids, but what suddenly lurks within him? ***READ THIS BEFORE THE ONE WITH FOUR CHAPTERS!***


Rayman: The Island of Loss - Chapter 1  
  
Characters created by Michel Ancel  
  
Written by Andrew Kaiko  
  
  
Here's my fan fiction of the most entertaining and most unique video and computer game series to hit shelves- Rayman, the armless, legless hero who conquers the day! I am but a small, meek, toiling fan of the game and am of no relation to the production or post-production team, and so, I do not own the characters and all related subjects. Rayman is © 2002 Ubi Soft Entertainment. The character of Rayman and all other characters and subjects are all trademarks of Ubi Soft Entertainment. All rights reserved.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
The reflection of himself looked oddly different. Yes, he indeed looked fine, but there was something about his mischievous and comical complexion that made him uneasy. Had he forgotten to wash his hair last night? Damn if he forgot one crucial part of his nightly ritual. No, that wasn't it.  
  
Rayman stared at himself in the wading pool for hours, trying to figure out what was different. Oh, what nonsense, he thought! He was Rayman! The person that everyone in Neotopia looked up to! The person who had everything under control and who was always in good humor, even when disaster struck! What could possibly be different about him, today of all days, when he knew everything was just fine?! Besides, you would make a fool out of yourself if anyone knew you had doubts about how much of a hero you were, he told himself. Now go brush off this nonsense! You have a reputation to uphold!  
  
Rayman pushed himself up on his bright yellow sneakers, brushed himself off with his white hands, which seemed to be floating in mid-air with no arms attached! Rayman never found difficulty in operating himself with no neck, arms or legs. His head, hands and feet seemed to move just fine without them. And after trading his bandana for a red hood, he felt much more casual.  
  
The warm forest, where he called Home, was buzzing with activity. It was early afternoon, and all of his neighbors were outdoors doing something- there wasn't a creature there who had nothing to do. Just so long as there wasn't any intruders or dealers seeping into the forest to bring nothing but bad tidings, Rayman was treated like any other member of the forest. That's what he liked about these lazy days- he was still a hero and still had time to play Capture the Flag with Globox's children!  
  
He saw one of his many best friends, Wendy, out in her yard, caring her children. Gina was the same species as Rayman, so she looked just like him, only she was wearing a bandana on her head like a headband, and had a blouse on. Right now, she was caring for her garden of cootmellons- rare fruit identified by their purple color with orange dots that only grew in these parts of the forest.  
  
"Wendy!" he called to her from a distance, running toward her. "Those cootmellons look great!"  
  
"Why thank you! They're not fully-grown yet- they still need to gather enough carbon dioxide in order for them to form their taste."  
  
"Yeah, I heard these fruits taste like sweetened clouds."  
  
"Do you know when the games start?" she asked him.  
  
"They should start any minute now. Just as soon as Globox gets her with his family!"  
  
Every year the forest held annual family-friendly tournaments (mainly races), which were known simply as The Games. Rayman wanted to wait for Globox's family before they started the tournaments because he knew his many children looked forward to this every year! The first Games started the year they were all born, in fact. As for himself, Rayman obviously competed, but made sure he didn't overuse his powers and strength too much. This was not any battle- he had to play easy and reserve his energy so as not to injure the children, and also, so he wouldn't be thrown out of the games because of child abuse according to their parents.  
  
Wendy continued, "I heard Globox was on his way. He told me he had a bit of trouble gathering his kids."  
  
Indeed he was. "Are you kids done with the outhouse yet?! I'm hopping up and down here! Yeesh, why didn't our race ever wear diapers?!"  
  
Rayman cleared his throat and put on a stone face for a moment. "Wendy, I've been feeling different lately. Do notice anything different about me? I mean-"  
  
"Rayman! We're here!" It was Globox and his family at last! They always walked in a cross between a hop and a waddle, but they never tripped. Globox had, like, a hundred children, all the same age, and trust me, you do not want to hear the story about how all of THAT happened!  
  
One of the kids walked up to them and said, "Rayman! Are you gonna' be on my team? Huh? Are ya'?"  
  
"No, he's not! He going to be on MY team!" said another.  
  
"No, mine!"  
  
"No, mine!"  
  
Globox's wife, Uglette, broke it up by saying, "He can be on everyone's team!"  
  
All the children cheered.  
  
Globox waddled over to Rayman. "Hay, Sharp-Shooter! This tournament's a great way to add some variety to the daily routine! I'm afraid I can't compete though. My, uh, leg is broken."  
  
"Globox, dude, you don't have any legs. And you say that every year! If you're afraid to compete, just say so."  
  
"Oooookay, I admit it! I'm scared! I want to play, but I don't have the confidence and a high enough level of self-esteem!"  
  
"How about I give you a tasty treat if you at least play, okay?"  
  
Globox was hopping up and down like a large, coily spring. "Ooo! Ooo! Okay! But, just this one time!"  
  
"Hey, you'll have so much fun, you'll forget you just said that last phrase!"  
  
"Which phrase? What? Who?"  
  
"Never mind."  
  
The Teensies, small, blue, regal creatures who wore different outfits, always traditionally hosted The Games. Even though they came from the Fairy Council, which was miles away from where The Games were held, they always hosted it because they hardly ever saw any other creature besides a Teensie (the Council was like a monastery in that they spent most of the days separating themselves from beyond the walls, studying and mediating). One of the Teensies, ., stepped up to the raised platform (a gigantic mushroom, common to the forest), and started to speak in a really squeaky voice.  
  
The Grand Maximus Teensie proclaimed, "Welcome to the Third Annual Games in the Neotopian Forest! Lets the Games begin!"  
  
He tooted a loud horn into the doctors' ears without noticing!  
  
The Games lasted for the entire rest of the day. There were about 10 different races with 10 different obstacles, all ranging in skill from easiest to most difficult. Rayman loved the ones that mainly led you away from a straight path, like the ones going down and around a mountain, or the ones that required you to hop from branch to branch 100 feet above the attentive crowd. These were the most difficult, of course, so he couldn't always play with Globox's children. The Teensies set up a system of floating, Purple Lums that the racers, especially Rayman, used as swings that you grab onto in the air.  
  
Globox had more difficulty with the races. As a different species, he couldn't run as fast, and just by his nature alone, he fell into a mud puddle here and a water pool there. He even pulled down a poor Purple Lum from the air into the puddle with one time, and the Teensies had to temporarily pause the games to send a replacement in! But he was persistent and didn't expect to win anyway.  
  
But something else happened that no one ever expected. Nearing the end of the most difficult racecourse of the day, Rayman was about to speed up when he heard a very coarse shout!  
  
"HEY YOU!!!"  
  
Well, he was a ways ahead of the others anyway, so Rayman felt it wouldn't hurt just to look around for a minute. He ran to the left, and right, of the track, but saw nothing.  
  
"UP HERE!!!"  
  
To his surprise, there was a creature sitting on a branch! He knew it was the same species as Rayman, because he was orange, had a big nose, and had no neck, arms, or legs. But this one looked like he had never bathed in a month! His hair was all black, dirty and stiff, and the only garment he sported was a torn-up piece of what looked like cotton, equally as brown and dirty! And fitting with this attire, he sported a grimacing, hatful expression. An expression that reminded Rayman of Mister Dark from long ago.  
  
This memory of a past enemy had Rayman out of balance and he feel forward. He then picked himself up and talked back forcefully, "Who are you, man?! Get down here pronto and tell me your business!"  
  
The stranger jumped out of the branch and landed almost directly facing him. His voice was hoarse but direct. "My name is none of your concern. But, as natural as these stories build up, I know quite a bit about you!"  
  
Rayman now wished he had just ignored him a kept on running.  
  
The man continued, "I am here to make a suggestion."  
  
"What suggestion?"  
  
"Oh, nothing much, really. My suggestion is only small. It is this. When you are done with race, think about what you actually benefit from your role in this world, mm?"  
  
Rayman was now more frightened. "Why, how difficult is that?! I help the citizens, they give me respect and attention and I in turn give THEM respect, which then prompts me even more to defend them from the evils of the world, which I in turn receive MORE respect.. and the cycle goes on! Not to mention I SAVE THE WORLD!!! What more of an answer do you need?!"  
  
The stranger grinned. "But what is respect and 'saving the world' compared to what you could've had?"  
  
"You're freakin' me out, Dude! I'm leaving-"  
  
"A-ah! No one can live with respect only. And even fewer can live with saving the world! Look at yourself. You have no home, you are always on the move. Yes, thinking of others is very good, yes, very good indeed, but don't you ever take time to examine what you want?"  
  
Rayman was struck in a mix of disbelief, ignorance and shock. It was true that he didn't have a real home, but he never needed that- he was a traveler. He KNEW he was! He WAS! He could only get food where there was plenty at any place he happened to be at. His thoughts led him back to earlier this morning, when he was pondering what was different about him in the reflection! Now, he had a clearly sense of what was different, but it was definitely nothing physical. He still couldn't quite pinpoint it.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by the footsteps of the nearing opponents behind him! The stranger rushed in a blink of an eye into the right side in the bushes, saying, "Remember to think about it!" There was no sign of him.  
  
Rayman snapped out of his contemplations and was back in full race mode! He dashed off toward the finish line, where the crowd was waiting for him. As predicted, easy as pie, Rayman won the last race of The Games, but the events weren't over.  
  
When the hot day ended, all the contestants and the rest of the crowd all headed down a narrow, scenic path to a set of tents. Under the tents were the rest of the 'raymans' who had prepared snacks and drinks.  
  
When everyone had their fill, the Teensies gave out the awards. Nothing special, mainly common fruits and rare plants that were scattered around the forest. The children were the most excited by these. Rayman won first prize: the biggest cootmellon that Wendy had grown from her garden, 4 feet in diameter! Second prize, a huge basket of plums, went to another family of four, all Rayman's species. And surprisingly, third prize went to Globox, who won about 50 Yellow Lums, good to store energy! "I'll give em' to Harry at the department store!" he said.  
  
After the awards were given out, the Teensies welcomed a guest- Murfy the fairy, who was dropping by on a break from his forest shift. Murfy was a good friend of Rayman- he had help guide him to defeat Captain Razorbeard and later, Andre the Head Hoodlum, and even though he was a bit sarcastic at times, he did it in good fun.  
  
Murfy flew up to the mushroom among the crowd and made a speech. "Hey. Hey! Heeeeeeeere's MURFY!"  
  
Silence. Crickets. Cough. More silence.  
  
"So, how about that Rayman, eh? Boy, I tell ya', ya' can't get a betta' champ than that champ! Let's all give him a hand, and a couplela' arms if you got any!"  
  
Not everyone clapped, mainly due to Murfy's somewhat awkward praise. If he weren't so awkward maybe all of them would.  
  
Murfy cleared his throat. "But we're not here for Rayman only. We're here to celebrate the new season! And it's also the rare times that all of us are here together in one place! I'd like to congratulate the winners, and all a' you little chums below, and everyone here who supported them in the events today! All right!"  
  
NOW everyone clapped!  
  
Rayman was expecting Murfy to congratulate him personally, like he usually did, but this time, that was the last he saw of him that day.  
  
Globox hopped over to his pal, carrying the basket of Lums. "Rayman! Thanks a bunch for getting me to compete in the Games! You were right! I should do this every year!"  
  
Rayman, somehow, was in duller spirits than he usually was at this time. "Oh, yeah, it was fun, wasn't it? But it's really only a kid's field day-"  
  
"Well, yeah, but it's still fun! I mean, I got to swing, and run, and jump, and fall, and break some skin tissue and-"  
  
"Well, yeah, what about all the times you fell and paused the games, huh?"  
  
Rayman heard himself yell at a friend in what might have been the first time in his life.  
  
Globox hesitated, and said innocently, "Well, that was just me! I'm clumsy! But I'm proud of it! What's your prob?"  
  
Rayman was a bit ashamed of himself, so he calmed down. "Nothing. Look, I guess I'm tired from the Games."  
  
"Ooo! Ooo! You need Lums?! Because Lums give you energy, right? Here, have some!"  
  
"I DON'T WANT LUMS RIGHT NOW, OKAY?!!"  
  
The shout was so loud that about 20 people halted and turned in his direction. Rayman and Globox, both wide-eyed and embarrassed, stopped in their movements.  
  
Rayman whispered, "Um, can you come behind this tree with for a moment? I'll tell you what's eaten' me."  
  
Globox scooted himself comically behind the trunk to meet Rayman at the other side.  
  
"Peek-a-boo! Found ya'!"  
  
"Shhh! Globox, this may be very important!"  
  
Rayman told him about the time he looked at himself in the water. And about that mysterious dirty man he met on the race and about what he told him to think about.  
  
Globox lifted his hand over his "head" and began scratching it, with his tongue sticking out the side of his closed big mouth. He always did that so he would appear to be thinking. "I bet it's just a phase you're going through. And lots of people like that hop out of trees and try to manipulate your mind all the time! They do it for amusement! It happened to me once-"  
  
"I know, but this guy was different! I could just smell it!"  
  
Globox giggled.  
  
"Globox! This is serious! Tell me, I never had a home, right?"  
  
"Uh, right!"  
  
"Did I ever do anything for myself?"  
  
"Yeah, you became friends with me!"  
  
"So you can feel good about yourself? So you could mask your insecurities behind Rayman, the toughest, most trusted person on Neotopia?! Or so I could too?"  
  
"Um. What about that time you saved the world?"  
  
"Oh, that! We-hell! I do that for the people here! Do I do it for me?"  
  
"Of course! If the world were gone, you would be too, right?"  
  
The conversation end there, because they stood staring at each other awkwardly for ten minutes until someone at the tent found them and told them they were pitching down the tents. As it turned out, Murfy was busy explaining to the people that Rayman was just tired and needed to rest up for the next big day. The Teensies were packing up for their pilgrimage back to the Council. Still, Globox told him to take care of himself and that he'll see him tomorrow and took his basket of Lums home with him, along with his family. Rayman would've gone back with him, but this time, he just didn't feel like it.  
  
Rayman stared at the huge cootmellon he won. It was taller than him!  
  
Rayman walked into a thickened part of the forest with no path, carrying the cootmellon. He didn't struggle with it, he had enough strength. It's not that he didn't want to go settle in the area he knew almost his whole life, but it's just that he needed time to think all this through! Make some order out of it!  
  
After hours of walking and carrying in the forest, he could feel the forest getting darker, probably because night had fallen. The blue tint covered everything except flying, elusive Lums dashing here and there, lighting up the forest like fireflies.  
  
What are the purposes of Lums, he thought? What is the purpose, of, anything here?  
  
One particular Yellow Lum stopped in front of Rayman, as if to say hi! Intrigued, Rayman followed the Lum, with cootmellon in hands, farther and farther away from his safe home.  
  
The Lum led him to a huge cliff, too huge for Rayman to jump safely off of, so he just halted and decided to rest here for the night. The lums continued to fly higher and higher into the sky. Into oblivion.  
  
Now Rayman noticed two weird things happening here. First, Lums' light never gave out, so how could that particular Lum just disappear as it went miles farther, when he should've seen it's light long after that?! Second, there was something strange about the formation of the cliff. It wasn't the type which would result from erosion or plate shifts. It looked as if the front structure of the cliff traced the remains of a bigger part of the whole, like a fossil!  
  
He placed the cootmellon to his left, and lay on top of it. He found it to be very cozy.  
  
Now, after a few more hours of looking at the night sky, he new a bit more what was different about himself.  
  
He was growing up.  
  
In this case, Globox was partly right in saying it might be a phase. Rayman knew was this was called in Neotopia. It was called IADS, Identity Altering Development Symtoms. It was a fairly new disease, so not much was known about it- few even knew what caused it! Many creatures had it during the phases right before they were fully grown, and some had it worse than others. Even evil villains, like Captain Razorbeard, could have it! You start to wonder if all that you've ever enjoyed doing is really meaningful. It's a temporary mental disorder, and wears off, if the victim is lucky. But Rayman didn't know of any cures, and he never had any friends who had it really bad!  
  
Rayman was just a little kid when he first discovered his unique powers. Now, he was much more mature and way cooler, but he was old enough now to think about why he was given his powers? He had no idea, but he WAS certain that it was just so he could help others and not himself!  
  
He then had a striking thought! If he never helped himself in his life, how difficult would it be to learn? Extremely difficult, he surmised! Why in five years, he'd be all dirty, and poor and live under a mushroom miserable for the rest of his life--  
  
Damn this IADS! He couldn't shake the thoughts off! Why did he have to catch it out of all the billions of creatures on Neotopia?!  
  
Well, one thing was for sure. He couldn't face his fans or his friends acting like this! He'd have to go take a nice, long retreat somewhere. But where? For how long? Oh, how foolish he was! No cure was known for this mental illness he had, and he knew that no one on Neotopia would ever find a cure quick enough for him to redeem his actions! He'd have no choice- he'd have to run away for an indeterminate amount of time before he gets rid of the IADS. He knew he wouldn't feel as bad about running away- traveling was his nature.  
  
Rayman finally got off his cootmellon. He would go back, write a letter to his friends explaining his situation, pack up anything he needed, and be off immediately!  
  
Rushing back toward the area guided by the light of the Lum, Rayman was able to go into his rented hole in one of the tree trunks, write letters, deliver them without getting caught, pack up and run out of the area again. He found it surprisingly easier than he was expecting. He only packed the cootmellon, pictures of his friends, and food. Lums were in abundance, so he didn't have to worry about running out of them.  
  
He was now nearing the cliff he had rested at earlier. As he was running, he suddenly tripped over a particularly large stone, and plopped onto the ground unconscious. The cootmellon fell not far from where he was, and did not break or get scraped. Rayman wanted to continue, but his head was knocked out, and his hands jerked and fell directly on the ground in mid- reach.  
  
Four hours later, daylight came. Rayman, still unconscious did not notice a large, colorful bird pick him and the cootmellon up. The bird then swooped upward over the trees and into the clouds with Rayman and his tow in tow. The bird seemed to know where it was going.  
  
Soon, it joined in a whole flock of birds. If Rayman were awake, he'd be surprised at all the different species he would see! Each bird had a creature, either asleep or unconscious, under their claws as they all flew in unison toward their destination.  
  
Finally, the bird dropped Rayman onto something hard and rocky, and it placed the cootmellon beside its find. With that, the bird flew away, back toward where it found him.  
  
Rayman, now lost, started to open his eyes.  
  
(new scene)  
  
"Dear Globox,  
  
"I'm running away. Don't bother looking for me- you know very well I can take care of myself. Good-bye.  
  
"-Rayman  
  
"P. S. - I think I left the remains of the, uh, plumberry cake in the fridge a day over the expiration date. I know about your allergies but, can you be so kind as to throw it away in the dumpster? I mean, uh. it's not like I don't like that flavor. It's just that. Well, it always had a certain disagreement with me and. oh, I know it's a really big favor- I can't even begin to think of what would happen to your allergies if you were holding it for even 20 minutes to the dumpster. But then again, I could've dropped it off myself, but I was so busy yesterday playing Tag with your kids. Damn, the rascals beat me every time! No matter how hard I try to- to- to go easy on them, they always beat me fair, and square! Ironic, isn't it? But then again, what are these days, eh? Well, I'd better be off before I start my nasty habit of talking to myself again.  
  
"P. S. S. - I almost forgot to tell you something very important! Something that has to do with me running away! The reason why I've been acting so weird last night! I have something in my head! It's --oh, wait! The lead from my pencil is almost u-"  
  
Globox gasped and dashed out of the house!  
  
(to be continued) 


End file.
